Car retarder for railroads



Jan. 5, 1932. N. c. L. BROWN 1,840,223

GAR RETARDER FOR RAILROADS Filed Dec. 6, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG-.1.

4%, ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1932. N. c. L. BROWN CAR RETARDER FOR RAILROADS Filed Dec. 6, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet v 2 INVENTOR BY fiw ATTORNE Y Patented Jan. 5, 1932 UN T D STATES PATENT OFFICE NED I BROWN, OF SCOTTSVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK CAR RETARDER FOR RAILROADS Application filed December 26, 1930.

This invention relates in general to car retarders of the track brake type, such as used in classification yards and the like, and has .more particular reference to means r whereby the effectiveness of the total weight of a car in producing retardation on the car are provided for shifting the pivot point of each one of a series of levers, whereby to vary the efl'ectiveness of the weight of a car in producing retardation on the car wheels.

Further objects, purposes and characteristic features will appear as the description progresses, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, showing, solely by way of example and in no manner in a limiting sense, one form which the invention can assume. In the drawings V Fig. 1 is a topplan view of a retarder in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. '2 is a sectional elevation on line 22 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation on line 3-3 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows. i

Fig. 4c is a fragmentary sectional elevation 0 on line 4t ofFig- 1 viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, viewedin the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, there are shown two track rails 1, constituting a stretch of single track on whichare represented car wheels 2. Supported by the ballast, are wooden ties 3running transversely oft-he track rails in the nsualmanner, with channel caps t thereon for rockingly sup- Serial No. 504,675.

porting the inner rockers 5 of a pair of rockers for each track rail, the outer rockers being designated as 6. The pairs of rockers 5 and 6, for each running rail, are tied together by cross beams or yokes 7, of a general U-shape, there being pivoted shoe beam arms 8 and 9 pivoted as at 10 and 11 respectively, to the rockers 6 and 5. Each shoe beam arm carries a shoe beam 12, and a brake shoe 13, the shoe beams and brake shoes either being continuous or articulated. They are shown continuous in Fig. l, but can be articulated if desired as in Patent 1,7 57,428, granted to V. K. Howe on May 6, 1930.

Each of the shoe beams is received in a slot formed between the base of the running rail and angle irons 14, clamped to the web of the rail, whereby to constrain the brake shoes, shoe beams and pivoted shoe beam arms to move vertically with the running rails. The rails and interconnected parts are held in their normal position by means of plungers 30, upwardly pressed by springs 15 sleeved thereon.

The arrangement of parts as above described produces at each running rail, a toggle joint with the arms of the toggle constituted by the brake beam arms, 8 and 9, with the joint opening upwardly and closing downwardly, whereby any weight carried by the running rails tends to close the jaws of the toggle joint and press the braking faces of the retarder shoes against the sides of the car wheels carried by the running rails.

The ties 3, carrying the inner rockers 5, are positioned to have their upper faces con siderably below the bases of the running rails, so that they normally do not support the rails, the rails being carried at these points by means of the brake beam arms 8 and 9. v

The outer rocker 6 of each pair of rockers associated with a running rail, is carried in a groove 16, in a lever L, which has a slot 17 in its lower face to receive one roller 18,

of a carriage constituted by the roller 18 and two rollers 19, which latter can move in a direction parallel to tie running rails to thereby vary the point oi contact 20, between the roller'18 and the lever L. The carriage constituted by the rollers 18 and 19 can be moved on its supporting plate 21, by means of an adjusting rod 22, operated by a motor M, through a shaft 23 carrying a crank 24 and an interconnecting link 25, all for the purpose of varying the efifectiveness of the weight ot'a car in producing retardation on the car, as will be explained below.

At the other end of each of the levers L, is

a second groove 26, in which are supported trunnions 27, fastened to the ends of trans verse steel ties 28, the steel ties being spaced so that there is one such tie for each pair of carriage and lever organizations. lhe steel ties 28 are positioned with their upper faces 29 considerably higher than the top faces of the ties 3 whereby to normally support the weight of the track rails 1, and anyload thereon, as shown most clearly in Fig. 4.

It is thus seen that at spaced intervals, there are steel ties 28 positioned high enough to normally support the track rails, with the ends of'these steel ties terminating in trun. nions 27 carried in grooves 26 of tl e levers L, these ties 28 being spaced up above any other support, so that they are free to move downwardly and thus allow the track rail .to

move downwardly, if the lever L isrocked about its support point 20. p v v Hth the arrangement of parts as above described, it can readily be seen that if the motor M be operated to move the carriage to theleft, as seen in Fig. 3, so that roller 18 lies directly beneath trunnion 26, the entire weight of a train passing over the running rails is transmitted directly down through the track rails, the ties 28, the trunnions27, and the rollers18 and 19 to the ballast. In this case no weight is supported by the brake beam arms 8 and 9, so that the toggle joints formed by these members have no tendency to close and exert retardation on the passing car wheels. Thus, with the carriage moved to a position directly beneath the trunnions 27', no retardation is experienced by a pass ing car. On the other hand, if the carriage is moved to the right, so as to bring the pivot point 20 directly beneath the rocker 6, then the steel ties 28 are free to move downwardly far enough to relievethem of supporting any weight of the passing car, so that all of the weight of thecar carried by the rockers 5 and 6. In such circumstances, the brake beam arms8 and 9 are moved downwardly,- together with the running rails 1,-to thereby close the toggle joint and press the brake shoes into tight trictionallengagement with the sides of the car wheels, until the various forces involved come .to a balance.

c the ratio of the lever arms E b c The lever arms a and b are shown, in Fig.

2, to. be the rotation arms about the pivot points 10 and 1-1. 'VVe can thus see that, with the carriage positioned directly beneath the roclrersfi, the entire weight supported by the rockers, which is theentire weight on the track rails,is effective in producing retardation- 'As the carriage is moved away from directly beneath the rocker 6, and towards the trunnions 27, a portion of the total weight carried by the track rails is carried by the steel ties 28, and this portion is not efiective inproducing retarding forces onthe passing car wheels. Accordingly, the nearer the carriage is moved to the position directly below the trunnions 27, the lessefi'ective is the total weight in producing'a retarding force. For example, ifthe pivot point 20 is midway between the rocker 6 and the trunnion '27, the retarding force is just half of what it is when the pivot point 20 is directly beneath the rocker6. Again,'if the carriageis moved three-quarters of the distance toward trunnions 27 the retarding force is one-quarter of the maximum'for a given weight of car.-

. When it is desired that a car pass through thexretarder wholly free from retardation, and out of contact with the brake shoes 13, the carriage can be moved until the pivot point 20 lies to the left of the trunnions 27, as viewed in Fig. 3, whereupon the lever L can rock in a clockwise direction so as to lower the pivot points 10, and cause the toggle joint constituted by the brake beams 8 and 9 to open up and move the brake shoes away from the track rails, the flanges 12 on the brake beams 12, being slidable in and out of the'slots between the base the angle irons 14.

The above arrangement of parts thus constitutes a retarder wherein the retardation effected on passing car wheels, is produced by the weight carried by the wheels so that anytendencyof the car wheels to climb out iirom between the} brake shoes'decreased the degree of retardation momentarily to prevent the climbing out.

The structure above described also provides means. whereby the total weight of a of the rails and 7 rockers to the trunnions.

these sets of points alone, or by both of them in varying ratios. As described above, the effectiveness of the total weight in producing retardation depends upon where this weight is supported, it being fully effective when it is supported from rocker 6, and being wholly ineffective, or in other Words, there being no retardation, when it is supported by trunnions 27, and being intermediately efi'ective according as the support is shifted from the The above rather specific description of one form of the present invention, is given solely by way of illustration, and is not intended, in any manner whatsoever, in a limiting sense. Obviously, the invention can assume many different physical forms, and is susceptible of numerous modifications, and all such forms and modifications, as come within the scope of the appended claims, are intended to be covered by this application.

Having described my invention, I now claim 1. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle oint which closes upon downward movement of the rail.

2. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means laterally slidingly connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail.

3. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, a brake shoe on the inner end of each arm in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail, and means for shifting the point of support of a load carried by said rail from a point ,at the'toggle joint to a point remote therefrom, whereby to vary the force, produced by a given rail load, tending to close the toggle and press the shoes inwardly against the sides of a car wheel.

4. In a car retarder of the track brake type,

in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail, an adjusting lever, means supporting the weight of the rail at the toggle joint from one end of the lever, a support tie normally in contact with the track rail and carried by the other end of said lever, and a movable pivot point support for the lever.

In a car retarder of the tracl: brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on. the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means laterally slidingly connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail, an adjusting lever, means sup porting the weight of the rail at the toggle oint from one end of the lover, a support tie normally in contact with the track rail and carried by the other end of said lever, and a pivot point support for the lever.

6. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint w rich closes upon downward movement of the rail, an adjusting lever, means supporting the weight of the rail at the toggle joint from one end of the lever, a support tie no anally in contact with the track rail and carried by the other end of said lever, and a carrying pivot point support for the lever, movable from one end of the lever to the other, to thereby vary the ratio of the rail loads supported by the toggle joint and the support tie.

7. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail, an adjusting lever, means supporting the weight of the rail at the toggle joint from one end :of the lever, a support tie normally in contact with the track rail and carried by the other end of saidlever, and a carryingpivot point sup- 5 port for the lever, movable from one end of the lever to the other to thereby vary the ratio of the rail loads supported by thetoggle joint and the support tie, the pivot point being movable beyond the first point iwhere 10 the rail load is wholly carried by the sup portitie.

8. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in combination, an arm pivoted at each side of a track rail and extending inwardly and 1 16 upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail,

brake shoes on the inner ends of the arms in position to be moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means laterally slidingly connecting the inner ends of the arms to the .20 track rail to carry the track rail, the arms forming a normally open toggle joint which closes upon downward movement of the rail, an adjusting lever, means supporting the weight of the rail at the toggle joint from 26 one end of the lever, a support tie normally in contact with the track rail and carried by the other end of said lever, and a pivot point support for the lever, the pivot point support comprising a movable carriage supported 80 from the ground, and means to move the car riag'e to difierent positions beneath the adjusting lever. V

9. In a car retarder of the track brake type, in'combination, an arm pivoted at each side 85 of a track rail and extendin inwardly and upwardly with its inner end adjacent the rail, brake shoes on the innerends or" the arms in position tovbe moved against the sides of a passing car wheel, means connecting the 40 inner ends of the arms to the track rail to carry the'track rail.

In testimony whereof I aiiiX my signature;

NED o. L. BnoWN. 

